Roger Hillygus and Stewart Handte kidnapped Hillygus’ mother from a care facility, authorities said. (Mug shots: Washoe County Sheriff’s Office via AP)

A man and his co-defendant — a former sheriff — pleaded no contest on Wednesday in kidnapping the man’s elderly mother after a yearslong family court battle over the woman’s guardianship, according to Fox Reno affiliate KRXI. Sentencing is scheduled for March 29.

This means that Roger Hillygus, 57, and accomplice Stewart Handte, 63, do not admit to the criminal case as charged, though they have conceded to accepting punishment in the state’s case.

Local reporting from outlets in the area of Reno, Nevada, stated that according to cops, defendants Hillygus and Handte — the latter of whom is former sheriff of Mineral County and former police chief of Reno-Sparks Indian Colony — walked into a care facility in 2019 with an ostensible legal order claiming he had guardianship of Susan Hillygus, who lived with dementia. Defendant Hillygus told a Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter it was a “jury verdict.” But it was not a verdict. It was written by a group purporting to protect people’s constitutional rights. The Review-Journal outright called the document a “sham.”